ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Kosovo Albanians

Okay, imagine you're playing with your friends at school. Let's say you're all pretending to be different characters from a movie you all love. You might be the main character, and your friends might play the other important parts. But what if some of your friends decide they want to be characters from a different movie? They might start playing that movie's story instead, and not listen to what you want to do. That's kind of what happened in Kosovo, but with real people instead of pretend characters.

Kosovo is a place in Europe, and it used to be a part of Serbia. But most of the people who live in Kosovo are Albanians, which is a different culture and language from the Serbs. The Albanians wanted to have their own country, with their own government and rules. They didn't want to be part of Serbia anymore. But the Serbian government didn't like that idea. They wanted to keep Kosovo as a part of their own country, with their own laws and culture.

So, this argument went on for a long time. The Albanians wanted independence, while the Serbs wanted to keep control of Kosovo. Eventually, things got really bad. The Serbian government decided to send troops into Kosovo to try to control the Albanians. They treated them really badly, and did things like burning down their homes, killing their people, and hurting them on purpose.

The rest of the world saw what was happening in Kosovo, and they knew it wasn't okay. They wanted to help the Albanians, so they got involved. They sent their own soldiers to Kosovo, to try to stop the Serbs from hurting the Albanians. After a lot of fighting, the Albanians finally got what they wanted. Kosovo became an independent country, with its own government and rules. The Albanians were finally able to live the way they wanted to, without anyone telling them what to do.

So that's the story of the Kosovo Albanians. They wanted to be their own country, and they fought really hard for it. It was a scary time for them, but they eventually got what they wanted, and they're now able to live a happier life.